Sunday, October 30, 2011

The above image is from two days ago, and below is this morning’s; already switching back to inflation after a steep pressure drop.

On the ground this roller coaster of a magma pressure graph has been consistently translating into a rise & fall of the broiling lava lake deep within Halema’uma’u crater in Kilauea Caldera, as well as surface flow lava outbreaks inside and around Pu`u O`o crater.

Pu`u O`o continues sending lava off its east flank during inflation cycles, then mostly crusting over during deflation. These rapid cycles have prevented further advancement down slope over the past weeks/months.USGS:View looking southwest at the east flank of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō. The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō cone is at the top of the photo. USGS/Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) have been getting some great aerial photos of the activity on Pu`u O`o. The aerial posted here is from their Images page, where they also give detailed descriptions for each image.

Meanwhile, down here along the lower Puna coastline, we have had some occasional heavy rain showers produced from an upper level cold front arriving from the north of the islands. Below is the sun setting as a rain shower lands on my home: The heavy showers also gave us morning and afternoon rainbows as compensation for the minor flooding. Here is this mornings offering:Photos taken off my lanai looking west: click on any one of them to open all these photos in a new & cool larger view window.

A few days ago, zoomed-in from the same vantage point, I also managed to get a lucky shot between the clouds of the crescent moon setting into the Kilauea degassing lava fumes with the planets Venus and Mercury just after sunset.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Starting with a 4.5 magnitude, in the past two hours there have been over 23 earthquakes in a tight cluster located about six miles west-northwest of the summit of Mauna Kea. The depth of these quakes seems to average about 12 miles.So far, besides the 4.5 there has been a couple over magnitude 3.0, with most around 2.3 or so (see complete list below). One small quake was very near Mauna Kea summit itself. 530 people reported feeling the 4.5Mauna Kea is categorized as a dormant volcano, having last erupted about 4,500 years ago. However, Mauna Kea is likely to erupt again someday.

Also, perhaps unrelated, there was a short sharp drop on the deformation tilt graph monitior for Kilauea (upper right corner) that at a glance looks to be closely timed to the current quakes, though it is hard to be precise without a closer timeline.

You can keep track of these quakes and any new ones on the Hawaii Island Earthquake Map HERE.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

This wide-view map details the most recent efforts of the USGS to document the present flow fields in relationship to the coast and Kalapana.(click on it to open it larger)

Kilauea continues erupting with lava within both the Halema’uma’u and Pu`u O`o craters. Halema’uma’u has a 500-foot wide crater floor vent that broils fairly steadily with active lava at around the 250-foot depth (recent dusk cam shot below).

Pu`u O`o crater has been going through cycles of heightened activity and quieter days in the past weeks with lava breakouts within crater walls (image below).(Cam at midnight Oct. 3rd)... and surface flows down its flanks.

The activity at both craters has risen and fallen pretty close to the inflation/deflation magma pressure cycles, as displayed on tilt graphs (today's below), with the most pronounced activity being displayed at Pu`u O`o.

Pu`u O`o’s crater floor has sagged and refilled a few times during the ebb & peaks, while its surface flows have roared hot and heavy at times. During more intense surface activity the reflective glow from the molten lava can be seen for many miles after dark.

Thermal imagery from October 7th clearly shows Pu`u O`o flank hot zones: Due to the cyclic nature of the magma pressures feeding surface flows the down slope movement of the lava has cooled between events and has not advanced significantly over the past weeks.zoomed view of the USGS/HVO updated flowfeild map.

I would expect that if there were to be a large and prolonged rise in magma chamber pressures there may be a corresponding advancement of lava down toward the Pulama Pali or Royal Gardens areas. I will add new updates as eruption events change. One of these days I hope to get some on-the-ground images to share with you :) …… Meanwhile you can keep informed by checking in with the informative web page links on this page of USGS/HVO.Above is a webcam capture of Pu`u O`o looking west as the sun sets into it a few days ago.

LEIGH'S NEW DIGS!

About Me

Before retiring this blog my intentions for it were:
I love sharing what is happening here on the Big Island, especially the on-going lava flow and reporting on serious changes in the weather and surf conditions. When I am on-the-ball I offer daily reports (less often during stagnant or non-event times) of these and other Big Island events.
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If you would be interested in seeing my photography of molten lava, surfing and a bunch of other things I point my camera at, visit my photo galleries here: Leigh Hilbert Photography ---------
To view some of my video of the lava flows check out my YouTube website channel; KumukahiHawk
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To hear radio interviews of me talking about the lava flow you can look for the titles & links along the right side of the main page.
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To absorb some of the amazing lava action of the past few years just look through the BLOG ARCHIVES further down this page for the many first-hand accounts, lava photos, videos and stories,
Aloha,
Leigh

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All images and video posted on Hawaiian Lava Daily are copyright of Leigh Hilbert Photography unless otherwise labeled. Use of images or video in any form must be by written permission and/or license from Leigh Hilbert.

Contact Leigh with inquiries at: lavalee808@gmail.com

ALSO: LICENSED DIGITAL DOWNLOADS available on my photography site- click the text to open the gallery and select image desired and follow prompts.

Hana Hou! Magazine story

HanaHou! - the Hawaiian Airlines inflight magazine, published an article on Jack Thompson's life and challenges as the last man standing when the lava finally takes his home. This was in their August/September 2012 edition. They have a condensed version on their WEBSITE. My photos are featured. The photos used in my account of events that day

TV interview - 2 1/2 minutes

2012 radio interview

If you have some time or the interest, Kim McMillon, a host on 'Arts In The Valley' (website linked here) is also a California AM radio station that did an interview with me covering questions about my lava videography & photography, Kilauea history and of my involvement with Jack Thompson and the story of his home lost to lava. The segment is about twenty minutes long:The Interview on mp3